Six Tigers use home mats to qualify for state meet

PublishedFebruary 22, 2012

By Jay Davis

The home crowd grew louder and louder as four straight Tigers won win-or-go-home matches to qualify for state at the Region 4B Wrestling Tournament at Mobridge-Pollock High School Gymnasium on Saturday.“Holy cow that was a great run,” said coach Spencer Novotny. “It was a great home environment. The crowd was erupting and the kids fed off it.”

The wrestlers coming through the loser’s bracket to earn their tickets to state almost overshadowed the region title won by Collin Jensen.

Jensen ran his season record to 41-0 and dismantled three opponents in winning the region title. He pinned Todd VanderMay of Bennett County in 59 seconds and Gavin DeVries of Philip at the 1:54 mark before sticking Jess Oliver of Lemmon-McIntosh at 1:26 for the title.

Jensen will take on Reis Rittel of Miller-Highmore in the opening round at state. Rittel is 13-9 on the season.

Brady Spiry earned his berth at state before the fireworks by winning his first two matches and taking second at 195 pounds. Spiry pinned Bernard Mabin of Hot Springs at 1:26 and edged Clay Seidler of Custer 4-3 in the semifinals. He ran into number one ranked Ryne Baier of Harding County in the championship and was pinned at 1:47.

Spiry (26-15), drew 34-8 Nathan Gruis of Tri-Valley in the first round at state.

And now back to the exciting run in the second round of wrestlebacks.

Lucas Martin, Jayson Van Vugt, Teddy Lopez and Camerin Davis were all one loss from coming up short of their goal. All four knew they had to win to compete in Rapid City. All four came through with flying colors.

Martin started the run at 160 pounds. He got the place fired up with an 8-2 win over Tanner Radway of Philip Area. Van Vugt was next at 170 pounds. The crowd got a little louder when he pinned Cody Pekron of Hot Springs at 2:20.

The MPHS gym was at full tilt for the next two matches. First, Lopez was in a back-and-forth match with Mario Lupercio when he put the Hill City wrestler on his back for a pin at 3:05. Next, Davis put Cade Larson of Stanley County (who beat Davis 2-0 in the district tourney) to the mat for a pin at the 3:56 mark.

The success did not carry over into the into the finals as only Martin was able to win his last match and claim third place, but Martin’s win was a revenge match that gave the Tiger faithful one more reason to get loud and proud. Martin beat Seth Ireland of Bennett County 7-3 in the third-place match after Ireland had pinned Martin in the opening round.

Martin (47-9) will face Blasé Vanecek of Bon Homme (34-9) in the first round on Friday.

A tough early tournament put the Tigers in need of some heroic wrestling to get back to the state-qualifying matches. Martin and Van Vugt lost their first matches. Lopez and Davis fell in the second round.

“We wrestled bad in the first round,” said Novotny. “They showed a lot of heart and character to fight back and get in.”

The Tigers will try to create more magic at the State B Wrestling Tournament at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City. The action starts at 10 a.m. on Friday.

Novotny said he had thoughts that cannot be omitted after such a successful day of wrestling and hosting the Region 4B tournament.

“I have to thank everyone who helped with the tournament,” said Novotny. “We got lots of compliments on running the tournament, the kids were happy, the coaches were happy and the environment was great.”